The flaskless molding equipment for molding a mold comprising a combined circuit that comprises a pneumatic circuit and an oil hydraulic circuit is smaller than equipment for molding a mold with a molding flask, and its molding line is shorter than that of the equipment for molding a mold with a molding flask. So, the overall cost of the initial investment and the running cost can be less.
For these reasons foundries of many small- and medium-sized enterprises use this type of molding equipment. Moreover, recently many developing countries set up foundries that very often adopt flaskless molding equipment for molding a mold comprising a combined circuit that comprises a pneumatic circuit and an oil hydraulic circuit.
In large enterprises, normally personnel that specifically attend to the maintenance of the equipment are stationed round the clock. But in small- and medium-sized enterprises, most likely an operator of the equipment is assigned also to the job of maintaining the equipment. In very small companies even a sales person of the manufacturer of the equipment very often takes care of the maintenance of the equipment.
For these reasons, there used to be a problem in that a business entity that introduced flaskless molding equipment for molding a mold lacked experienced maintenance personnel, so that it took much time not only to repair the equipment or to restore it to the normal operation, but also to determine the cause of the trouble in the equipment.
Also, in the developing countries, experienced maintenance personnel are rare to find. So, it very often makes it difficult even to determine what causes the equipment to stop operating.
The companies, domestic as well as overseas, which have introduced the equipment, frequently ask the manufacturer how the equipment can be restored to its normal operation. Although the report on the current state of the equipment from users, and the manufacturers' advice on how to restore it to a normal operation, are normally exchanged by phone, etc., it usually takes much time. It takes more time before the equipment is restored to a normal operation, particularly if the user is a company located overseas and also because of the difference in languages and the time difference that exists between the user and the manufacturer. The following documents, Patent Documents 1 and 2, relate to the invention of this application.